Defensive lapses cost Irish in loss

May 11, 2008|CURT RALLO Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- Earlier in the season, Notre Dame's baseball team ranked among the nation's top 10 in defense. Saturday afternoon, the Irish probably felt like they had hit rock bottom. Defensive breakdowns by Notre Dame, combined with clutch hits and timely defensive plays by Pittsburgh, added up to a formula for disaster for Notre Dame. Pittsburgh rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat Notre Dame, 5-3, Saturday. Pitt starter Rob Brant entered the game with an 0-6 record and a 7.61 ERA, and relief pitcher Ricky Breymeir entered the game with a 2-2 record and a 7.89 ERA, but both were effective against the Irish. Brant worked 6?240-208? innings, giving up three runs on three hits. Breymier worked 2?254-240? innings, shutting out the Irish on two hits. Notre Dame hosts Pittsburgh today at 1:05 p.m. in the series finale. The Irish (33-14-1 overall, 16-7 Big East) find themselves two games behind Big East leader St. John's in the loss column after Saturday's loss. Pitt is 18-30 overall and 7-16 in the Big East. The Panthers won at Notre Dame for just the fourth time in 19 games. Notre Dame, which led the Big East with a 12-3 record at one point, is 4-4 in its last eight Big East games. "It's tough to take this loss," said Notre Dame second baseman Jeremy Barnes, who belted a towering homer in the sixth inning to bring the Irish into a 3-3 tie. "We have to come back (today) and get a win, first and foremost. We're in this race with St. John's for the top of the league, and today was a big one. We lost a big one. We have to come out and win from here on out." Notre Dame has four Big East games left on its schedule -- Pitt today, then a three-game road trip at South Florida. "We're very capable of winning out," Barnes said. "We're on top of the Big East for most of the year. I don't know what the deal is, if finals are still hanging on people's minds, but we haven't played well this series. We haven't played the way we're capable of." Notre Dame pitcher Wade Korpi mowed down the first nine batters he faced. The Irish built a 2-0 lead after three innings when Pitt struck back. The Panthers scored a run in the fourth and another in the fifth to tie. The Panthers could have scored more, but two runs were wiped out when it was ruled Joe Leonard missed tagging third base on his way home. After Barnes tied the score at 3-3 in the sixth, Pitt countered with two in the seventh. Sean Conley's RBI double was the big blow of the inning. Notre Dame threatened in the seventh, putting its first two runners on. But Pitt Breymeir fielded Billy Boockfield's bunt perfectly and made the throw to third baseman Leonard to force out Casey Martin. Sean Gaston was gunned down at the plate on a bullet throw by left fielder Conley trying to score on a single by Brett Lilley. "The play at third, that was a perfect play," Notre Dame coach Dave Schrage said. "Our scouting report on (Breymeir) is that he can't make that play. I thought we were going to have bases loaded and nobody out, and all of the sudden, he soft-tucks it to third and our guy was out." Pitt assistant coach Joel Domkowski, who is running the team after head coach Joe Jordano suffered a severe injury in a game against Central Michigan earlier this week, said that the Panthers came up with big plays when they needed them. "We've been having a tough year," Domkowski said. "Eight of our Big East losses have been by one run. Before, we haven't made the plays or come up with the big hit, and it seemed today we did. We're excited about it. Our guys have worked extremely hard all year." Schrage said that defensive mistakes haunted his team. "We talked before the game about having to play well, and we're not playing well right now," Schrage said. "The last two weeks of the season, we haven't played good defense. That cost us three runs today. We don't catch a pop up, we don't make a routine ground ball, and we don't make a bunt play, and that ended up being three runs." Pittsburgh 000 111 200 -- 5 9 1 Notre Dame 011 001 000 -- 3 5 2 Rob Brant, Ricky Breymeir (7) and Nick Mullins; Wade Korpi (L, 6-3), Cole Johnson (7) and Sean Gaston. WP -- Breymeir (3-2). HR -- Barnes (ND), 7. 2B -- Sean Conley (P), Joe Leonard (P).